christopher price

In key moments for the Patriots, it's keep calm and carry on

FOXBORO -- In the waning moments of Sunday’s AFC championship, the Ravens were a muddled mess.

Coach John Harbaugh was seen shoving an assistant on the sidelines, and wide receiver Lee Evans dropped what would have been a late touchdown pass (with some help from Patriots’ defensive back Sterling Moore). And despite the fact that Baltimore had another timeout before it tried a 32-yard field goal that would have tied the game, the Ravens rushed kicker Billy Cundiff and the rest of the field-goal team onto the field as the play clock was winding down. Cundiff, clearly rattled, missed badly.

All of that stood in contrast to the Patriots, who were able to maintain their collective composure. New England never appeared to come unglued, even after suffering back-to-back body shots from the Ravens in the second half. First, Baltimore took a 17-16 lead on a 29-yard pass from Joe Flacco to Torrey Smith late in the third quarter. And then, Danny Woodhead fumbled the ensuing kickoff, setting the Ravens up with great field position that led to a 39-yard field goal to make it 20-16 with less than a minute to go in the third quarter.

But down the stretch, with a trip to Super Bowl XLVI on the line, New England answered. Tom Brady led the Patriots on an 11-play, 63-yard drive that allowed New England to regain the lead, while Moore came away with a pair of big pass breakups. In all, there was never the same sense of chaos permeating the Patriots’ sideline that was evident on the other side of the field.

In truth, that’s pretty much been the case all year for New England, which has managed to keep cool, even when things have gotten a little dicey. That was seen in the way the team went about their business: During the 2011 regular season, the Patriots came from behind in nine of their 13 wins, overcoming an average deficit of 8.4 points in those victories. That includes four deficits of at least nine points (or at least two scores), and one three-game stretch where they were able to overcome deficits of nine, 17 and 21 points.

They have been placed in some high-stress situations this season, and with one notable exception, they have managed to keep calm and carry on.

“Obviously, it starts from the top and trickles down from there, from our captains and our leaders. And we just have to go out there and execute,” said running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis of the in-game composure displayed by the Patriots this season. “It doesn’t matter if we’re up 21 or down 21. We still have to go out and make plays. We just have to go out here and do what we do.”

Of course, there have been moments where things didn’t go exactly as planned. That includes several instances of poor execution and mental errors in back-to-back losses (Oct. 30 against Pittsburgh and Nov. 6 against the New York Giants). But special teams’ ace Matt Slater said that even the bad moments can be turned into positives if you look at it as a learning experience.

“I think the best thing that could have happened to this football team was us losing those back-to-back games in the middle of the season,” Slater said. “Adversity, I think, is a good thing, depending on how you respond to it. And we responded to it so well, the adversity that we faced. We were sitting there, 5-3, struggling, people talking about the defense, the offense, the special teams.

“But at that point I think we really rallied together and found out what we had. The character of this football team was displayed from there on out. In hindsight, those two losses might have been the best thing that happened to this team.”

Much of the Patriots ability to excel in key moments stems from their ability to excel when it comes to situational football. Slater spoke Monday about New England’s preparation for just about any possibility, including a free kick situation. It’s happened four times in the last 23 years -- basically, the NFL’s equivalent of Halley’s Comet -- but if there’s ever a free kick involving the Patriots, they’re ready.

“It’s not a play you see often in this game, but it’s something that we’ve practiced and prepared for,” Slater said of the free kick possibility. “Coach (Bill) Belichick does a great job coaching situational football, and having us aware and learning at all times of what’s going on out there on the football field.

“You feel so prepared around here going into a football game, it’s unbelievable. You feel comfortable with everything you might see and things you might not have seen before. I think that’s what coach -- he does a great job preparing us for that.”

“Coach does a great job of putting us through a number of situations every week,” said offensive lineman Brian Waters. “So it doesn’t surprise us when we’re in certain situations, because we’ve practiced those things numerous times.”

That preparation includes hurried end-of-half and end-of-game field goal attempts, exactly the sort of situational football that ended up sinking the Ravens on Sunday. At the end of training camp practices, the sight of holder Zoltan Mesko and kicker Stephen Gostkowski running on the field to try and execute late-game field-goal attempts is commonplace.

“Our coach prepares us. He puts an extreme amount of pressure on us, so when those situations come up, practice situations become game reality. Those things become second nature to us,” said Green-Ellis. “You never know what’s going to go on around here. That’s part of coaches’ job. He keeps us even-keeled on everything.”

Greg and Chris talk with Mike Reiss from ESPN Boston in hour 2 of NFL Sunday to discuss a variety of offseason happenings with the Pats and throughout the league. Greg and Chris also get into the NFL Draft and where Mariota and Winston will go.

Mike Reiss calls the guys to talk about the offseason news for the Pats. He talks about the Pats/Jets tampoering fiasco, free agency, where he sees Ridley and Connolly ending up, if the Patriots would be interested in Reggie Wayne and more.

In the first hour of the show, Greg and Chris discuss the news coming out of the owners' meetings this week and rule changes. Belichick's blow-up over the league not wanting to spend on endzone cameras was well documented and the guys react. They also talk about the Jets ridiculous tampering charges, free agents still lingering out there, where Stevan Ridley will land and the RB position in New England. Dickerson and Price briefly discuss the adventures of Tom Brady before being joined by WEEI.com's Mike Petraglia to talk all things Pats in the offseason.

Flannery joins Mut to break down the Isaiah Thomas trade to Boston and what it means for the Celtics this season and in the future. Paul also chats with Mut about the other deals that happened at the NBA's trading deadline

Mut, Tomase, and Bradford kick things off talking about Shane Victorino taking offense to people reading into some comments he made about trading for Cole Hamels. They also discuss Blake Swihart and how soon he could be up if Christian Vazquez starts the season on the DL.

Joe Kelly joined the Hot Stove show where he talked about being ready for his next spring training start after a biceps ailment forced him out of his last outing, he talks about his NCAA brackets and how teammate Wade Miley has a perfect bracket still.

Peter Chiarelli joined the Sunday Skate crew to talk about the Bruins playoff push heading into the final handful of games of the regular season. Chiarelli talked about avoiding some of the overly negative feedback he gets while realizing that the team does have real issues. He discusses what went down at the trade deadline and if he was happy with the outcome, Lucic having a down year and underperforming, the salary cap and if he considers it as big of an issue as it's been made out to be and what the future holds for the team.

It's a big hour #2 for the Sunday Skate dudes - they talk about the B's defenseman and what the future looks like at that position, with both moves the team can make and younger guys in the AHL. They also get into the Bruins philosophy on bringing guys up and sending them back down and how players deal with that. Finally, the boys are joined by Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli to discuss EVERYTHING.

The Sunday Skate crew gets the show going discussing the Bruins big, impressive victory over the NY Rangers yesterday. What can you take from that game? According to LB - Lyndon Byers - who called the guys from the road, not a lot. LB drops a dime on what was going on with the Rangers yesterday. DJ and Joe discuss Claude's lines and groupings and the importance of Ryan Spooner. They also get into Lucic, his contributions this year and if he can turn things around.

With the Wells report seemingly wrapping up (we hope), Tim and Lou got to talking about possible fines and punishments the Patriots must face. It's possible that the Patriots will face a small fine, but should they take that laying down? The conversation brings out a little passion from BOTH sides.